To:THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.

From Lenin to members of the C.C.

Published:First published in 1926.

      Sent from Geneva to Russia.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages336-337.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

September 7, 1905

Dearfriends,

TodayI received news of your agreement to a conference on the Duma with the
Bund, the Letts,
etc.[2]Only today, although the thing happened a
month ago! It is left for me to write you another “protest” (an
occupation which, it seems, is becoming my profession)....

Definitely,I shall accuse you formally before the Fourth Congress of the crime
called “restoration of duocentrism in defiance of the Rules and will of
the Party”. Really, I shall. Just think—is it not duocentrism that
you have introduced! I amobliged ex officioto run the organ of the
Central Committee. Is that not so? But how can I do that when Ido not get a
scrapof writing on any question of tactics, and a for-r-r-rmal enquiry
about the “pre-arranged” meeting on September 1 (new style) is left
without reply! Just think what the outcome will be if there is disharmony
between us! Is it so difficult to get someone to write in good time, if only on
matters of “state importance”?

Ihave written about the Duma in Nos. 12, 14 and 15 ofProletary. I am
also writing in No. 16, which will come out on September 12
(new style)[1]. InPosledniye Izvestia(September 1, new style, No. 247) the Bund talked
itself popeyed. We’ll give them a whipping they won’t forget tillthey’re able to sit up again. These Bundists are such dolts and trumpeters, such
nitwits and idiots, they are the limit!Iskrahas got tangled up in
lies, especially Martov in the WienerArbeiter-Zeitung(August 24, new
style—translation inProletaryNo. 15). For heaven’s
sake, don’t rush in with an official resolution and do not give way an
inch to this Bundist-new-Iskrist conference. Is it true that there will be no
minutes? How can one possibly confer with these prostitutes without minutes?

Istrongly warn you against the Armenian Social-Democratic
Federation.[3]If you have agreed to its participation in the conference, you have made afatalmistake, which must
be rectifiedat all costs. It is
represented in Geneva by a couple of disrupters who publish sheer trivia here
and have noseriousconnections with the Caucasus. It is aBund
creatura, nothing more, specially invented to cultivate Caucasian
Bundism. If you allow these people to attend aRussianConference, that
is, a conference of organisations working in Russia, you will get yourself into
a terrible mess. All the Caucasian comrades are against this gang of disruptive
writers (I know this from many people); and we shall soon trounce them inProletary. You will only
evoke protests from the Caucasus and afreshsquabble instead of “peace” and
“unity”. For pity’s sake! How can one ignore the Caucasian
Union, which is working so hard in Russia, and hobnob with the dregs of the
Geneva marsh! I beg you most earnestly, don’t do it.

Ihave received the decision about dividing the money equally with the
Organisation Committee. It will be carried out to the letter.

Allthe best.N. LeninNotes[1]See“The Boycott of the Bulygin Duma, and Insurrection”,
“‘Oneness of the Tsar and the People, and of the People and the Tsar”’,
“In the Wake of the Monarchist Bourgeoisie, or in the Van of the
Revolutionary Proletariat and Peasantry?” and “The Theory of Spontaneous
Generation” (present edition, Vol. 9).—Ed.[2]TheConference of Social-Democratic Organisations in Russia was held in
Riga on September 7–9 (20–22), 1905. It was attended by representatives
of the C.C. of the R.S.D.L.P., of the Organisation Committee of the
Mensheviks, of the Bund, of the Lettish Social-Democrats, of the
Social-Democrats of Poland and Lithuania and the Revolutionary Ukrainian
Party. The Conference approved the Bolshevik tactics of active boycott of
the Bulygin Duma. The Conference decisions were assessed by Lenin, in his
articles “The First Results of the Political Alignment” and “The
Hysterics of the Defeated” ^^(see Vol. 9 of this edition)^^. The
Mensheviks refused to sign the resolutions of the Conference.[3]TheArmenian Social-Democratic Federation—a nationalist
organisation formed in 1903, shortly after the Second Congress of the
R.S.D.L.P., which proclaimed itself the sole representative of the Armenian
proletariat; like the Bundists, it recognised only the federative principle
of party organisation.

[1]See“The Boycott of the Bulygin Duma, and Insurrection”,
“‘Oneness of the Tsar and the People, and of the People and the Tsar”’,
“In the Wake of the Monarchist Bourgeoisie, or in the Van of the
Revolutionary Proletariat and Peasantry?” and “The Theory of Spontaneous
Generation” (present edition, Vol. 9).—Ed.

[2]TheConference of Social-Democratic Organisations in Russia was held in
Riga on September 7–9 (20–22), 1905. It was attended by representatives
of the C.C. of the R.S.D.L.P., of the Organisation Committee of the
Mensheviks, of the Bund, of the Lettish Social-Democrats, of the
Social-Democrats of Poland and Lithuania and the Revolutionary Ukrainian
Party. The Conference approved the Bolshevik tactics of active boycott of
the Bulygin Duma. The Conference decisions were assessed by Lenin, in his
articles “The First Results of the Political Alignment” and “The
Hysterics of the Defeated” ^^(see Vol. 9 of this edition)^^. The
Mensheviks refused to sign the resolutions of the Conference.

[3]TheArmenian Social-Democratic Federation—a nationalist
organisation formed in 1903, shortly after the Second Congress of the
R.S.D.L.P., which proclaimed itself the sole representative of the Armenian
proletariat; like the Bundists, it recognised only the federative principle
of party organisation.